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Saturday, June 25, 2005

Dune Acres 2 - The Lighthouse

I thought it would be neat to ride to Michigan City, so I left around 5:30 so that I could get back in time to visit a little more with family before everyone left at 10:00.

The route was easy - take US 12 all they way to Washington Park in Michigan City, ride through the park to get to the lighthouse, and ride back. On the way out, I passed the "Morse Code House" at US 12 and Mineral Springs Road. (If any of my readers know the code, I would love a translation.)

US 12 is an interesting route. It must have had much charm during the pre-Interstate Highway days, but now the area is being purchased for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore project. Many of the houses and businesses in the park area are either empty or just gone. I wonder if towns like Dune Acres will be there in 50 years. So, the scenery was pretty quiet for the first part of the ride. Even though I was heading east on a sunny day, I didn't need my sunglasses for the first eight miles because the tree cover blocked the sun. I even scared a deer that was in the ditch next to the road (actually, the deer probably scared me more). Once I got past the Lakeshore area and into the towns of Beverly Shores and Pines, things began to look a little more interesting.

Pumps on 12 is an example of the charm of the area. There was even a luthier across the street.

The cooling tower at the power plant was my landmark for most of the trip east.

It didn't take long to find Washington Park and ride out to the lighthouse. Here you can see my bike hanging out with the fisherman.

On the way back, I passed the Superior Court building (where my friend Steve works) and the Indiana State Prison. Then, I noticed how late I was, so I tried to speed back to the house. I kept up a 15 MPH pace for most of the trip with just one stop at a store for a fresh drink. It was around 8:00 when I passed the guard shack at the town entrance.

No problem. We went back this year and I got a couple of fresh shots. Then my family found a Morse code sheet and tried to decode it. We only got part way through (it seems to have some mistakes or maybe use a different version of the code than I have). You can see the photos and our progress at http://gentryville.net/mch/mch.html.